#52Ancestors: Dr. Comfort STARR 1589-1659, England to Massachusetts

 Another post in the year-long challenge, #52Ancestors by genealogist Amy Johnson Crow. I am behind, but every post is another post! Today I am writing about Dr. Comfort STARR, in the RICE line of my ex-husband [and his brother], his 9th great-grandfather, our children's 10th, grandchildren's 11th great-grandfather. Online trees on various sites list several generations back plus additional children, aunts and uncles, but this is a fairly new-to-me ancestor and more research will be taken up later this year. His surname is spelled occasionally as STAR or STARRE. 

A major resource was the Ashford Parish Register, in Kent, England. Note the red ink Tudor rose under the green crown on the left side, with E and R on either side of the rose. A beautiful book with careful writing. A challenge still to read because of the way letters were formed back then, but at least they were tidy! A secondary source was the Tyler Indexes for Kent County, handwritten abstracts. Both found on FindMyPast.

Comfort STARR was baptized 6 July 1589, in Cranbrook, Kent, England of Thomas jr. and Susan STARR. Baptism shown above. The Thomas STARR family were Dissenters, strongly Separatist re their religious practices. See St Mary the Virgin church in Ashford, here. 

Siblings of Comfort [eldest child] were Moregifte [son], William [son], Suretrust [dau], Mercie [dau], Standwell/or Standfast [dau], Judit [dau], Truth-Shall-Prevail [dau], Joyfull [son], Constance [dau], and Beloved [son].  I believe there might be one or two more children whose baptisms I have yet to find, and several died young. 

Comfort became a chirurgeon [physician/surgeon], and on Oct 4th, 1614 he married Elizabeth MITCHELL, in Northiam, Sussex, England, a nearby town.  Elizabeth was the daughter of Thomas Hayward MITCHELL and Margaret.  Comfort and Elizabeth appeared to move to Ashford, Kent, shortly after their marriage; Ashford was a bustling town with particular success in textiles manufacturing. 

The family - Comfort, wife Elizabeth, and their children plus Comfort's sister, Truth-Shall-Prevail, travelled to Massachusetts from the port of Sandwich Kent, on the Hercules in 21 Mar 1634/35. This was a time called "the Great Migration" when many people left because of extreme unhappiness with the Church of England and its "popishness" and more. It is likely that others on the ship were well-known to Comfort and his family.

Children  (10) of Comfort and Elizabeth - all but 1 were baptized in Ashford, Kent in St. Mary the Virgin; not all details of all children have been researched as yet: 

    1.  Thomas, bap 31 Dec 1616, d 25 Dec 1658 Yarmouth MA; m. abt 1639
             to Rachel Harris in Massachusetts, 3 boys known
    2.  Judith, bap 11 Jan 1617/18, d. by 25 Aug 1622, Eng.

    3.  Mary, [ancestor], bap 16 Apr 1620, d. 22 Apr 1659 Sudbury
             Middlesex, MA; m. abt 1638 to Thomas AXTELL from Berkhamstead,
             Hertfordshire, Eng; 1 known, others not yet found

    4.  Elizabeth, bap 3 Jun 1622; m. 1642 to John Fernside

    5.  Comfort [jr], bap 11 Apr 1624

    6.  John, bap 25 Oct 1626

    7  Samuell, bap 2 Mar 1627/28, d. by 16 Apr 1633, Eng.

    8.  Hanna, bap 22 Jul 1632

    9.  Liddia, bap 22 Mar 1634 

  10.  Ruth, est bap 1637 in Cambridge MA

In 1638, Dr. Comfort STARR and family removed to Duxbury, Plymouth, MA, and they resided there until 1646. He was well regarded, and was a member of the General Court in 1642. At that point, they moved to Boston, Suffolk, MA, and remained there. In addition, he was a Charter Fellow of Harvard College in 1650, and his son was also active in the College. For more information and details, I am hoping to do more research on the NEHGS site, AmericanAncestors.com, within the coming year. 

 His wife, Elizabeth, died in Boston 25 Jun 1658; by this time all children were of adult age, and several were married, as can be seen in the list of children above. 

Dr. Comfort STARR wrote out his will 22 Apr 1659, and died within the year; probate is dated 2 Jan 1659/60.    

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If these are your ancestors, I am happy to share what little I have on these ancestors. And if there are errors, please do let me know, via calewis at telus dot net, or in the Comments below and I will get back to you either by email or in the Comments. I appreciate the opportunity to correct any issues in these family trees.

Blogger - or my computer - is still not letting me "reply" to your comments, for some unknown reason. If I don't reply to your Comment, please know that I'm totally thrilled you came to read my post and commented!  You truly make my day!!

William AXTELL 1587-1638 Berkhamstead, Hertford, England

William AXTELL is my ex-husband's 9th great-grandfather [in his mother's RICE lines], our children's 10th great-grandfather. He is the father of Thomas AXTELL, the immigrant from England to New England, who arrived in Massachusetts colony before 1642.

William was born aproximately 1587 in or around Berkhamstead in Hertfordshire, although I have not seen a record of his christening, nor of his marriage details. Axtell Genealogy online suggests his father was John Axtell, son of John Axtell. However, I have yet not seen proof of these statements.
Photo of Town Hall is by Robert Stainforth.

Much of my information on the AXTELL family has come from the online details of The Axtell Family Organization, referencing articles in NEHGS Register in various years. Note: many past archived copies of the Register are available both on paid sites [NEHGS] and free sites. Additional details are from early Massachusetts records.

The AXTELL surname (with many spelling variants) comes from Old Norse language, click for more explanation on this origin. There were few Axtells living in Berkhamstead during this early time, as far as I have found. William AXTELL is up at the tip of my research, and there are fewer likely documents and records for such individuals.

William apparently married Thomasine CUTLER about 1610-1612. A Thomasin Cutler, daughter of "Jhon Cutler" was baptised November 9th, 1589 in Lexden, Essex, the county to the east of Hertfordshire. She is not confirmed as the correct wife of William, but is certainly a possible clue to follow up.

William and Thomasine had the following children, baptised at St Peter church in Berkhamstead [image on right], daughters' dates are not proven:
   1.  John, b. abt 1614
   2.  William, bap 1 Dec 1616
   3.  Thomas [ancestor], bap 26 Jan 1618/19, bur 8 Mar 1645/6 Sudbury,
             Massachusetts; m. Mary _____, abt 1637 in England; 3 known children
   4.  [Col.] Daniel, bap 26 May 1622, d. 19 Oct 1660 London ['the Regicide']
   5.  Samuell, bap 15 Dec 1624
   6.  Sarah, b. abt 1628
   7.  Jane, b. abt 1630
   8.  Ann, b. abt 1633

I have  not found significant details of the spouses and children of any of the above 8 children except for the direct ancestor, Thomas.

An article in NEHGS 1899, July, by S.J. Axtell, indicates information about "the will of William Axtell, d. 1637, that mentions his wife, Thomasine, and sons John, William, Thomas, Daniel, and Samuel."  This sent me searching for the will, which I found today. I will have to pore over this will, as the language and writing is a bit challenging - see below for the snippet from the first part of the will. I'll be transcribing it as much as I can. The National Archives in England names this the will of

"William Axtell Bargemaster

 of Berkhamstead St Peter, Hertfordshire" 

The will was probated June 1st, 1638. I do not have his actual death date - clearly he would have died at some point after the will was written on 14 November 1637. In addition, I do not have a burial date as yet for his wife, Thomasine, who appears to have outlived him as she is mentioned in his will.

Bluntly, I have little information on him: no birth record, no marriage record, no death/burial record, no history. Simply these few crumbs of possible information to continue searching, perhaps when I get to Salt Lake City this fall. However, his will provides several clues - giving his occupation, plus his children and wife's names.

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If you have any further details or suggestions about William AXTELL or his family, I would love to hear from you; contact through my email address at the very bottom of the blog page.  

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